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As most Polish
citizens can hardly fail to notice, Europe is experiencing a time of growing
economic turmoil. So much so, that leaders of Eurozone countries are now
desperately searching for ways to prop up their tottering national economies as
well as to maintain commitments to what is termed 'monetary union' – the Eurozone
holy grail.

Countries
outside the Eurozone also find themselves caught up by the effects of the
gathering financial storm and are attempting to pitch their camps as
appropriately as possible to deal with it.

But one thing
that countries both inside and outside the Eurozone share is a common problem
of 'debt'. Levels of national borrowing (sovereign debt) have, over the past
decade, exceeded the ability of many countries to pay back the ensuing interest
and capital within permitted time zones, thus catalysing the 'restructuring' of
these loans by the lenders and the setting of new terms for repayment. The
'lenders' are thus put in a position of great power: they can pull the strings
and set the agenda – so long as the countries which are borrowing wish to
maintain their particular monetary policies and ambitions for 'economic
growth'.

Poland,
however, finds herself in a position of reasonable resilience to the Eurozone
storm. With an economy that is largely internally stimulated and not overtly
reliant on exports, the country looks in fair shape to resist at least the
worst consequences of the black hole which the Eurozone is rapidly turning
into.

All the more
bizarre then, is the determination of prime minister Tusk to throw us right
into the vortex of that black hole thereby surrendering Poland's hard won
independence to a bunch of unelected technocrats who are the puppet masters of
the European Commission and its various agencies.

Donald Tusk is
making a name for himself by singing the praises of the European Union at every
opportunity. A few months ago he was quoted as saying that, “The European Union
is the greatest institution in the world.” He has now been joined by the
foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who seems particularly keen on supporting German
leadership of radical reform to the Eurozone. Tusk and Sikorski are, it seems,
absolutely determined to hook Poland into the Euro and 'monetary union' within
four years – “provided the Eurozone undergoes necessary reforms” (Sikorsky).

So what might these
reforms be?

If Angela
Merkel's reform package does indeed become the accepted way forward, then it
will mean that Brussels will have hugely increased its power over the economic
and fiscal affairs of the Eurozone countries. They will have to account to the
European Commission and be open to the surveillance and even management of
their economies, so that near guarantees can be made as to the
credit-worthiness of each country.

Tusk is gunning
for just
such a recipe for Poland's future. One which “will make Europe an effective
enterprise with mechanisms of internal control and discipline”. According to
this ethos Polish citizens will find themselves paying contributions not only
to Brussels and Warsaw but also into the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.
Under such a regime, Poland will simply become 'a unit of administration' in a
bureaucratic spiders web whose nerve centre is situated within the unelected
cabal in Brussels. The danger lights should be flashing.

The European
Union has already been responsible for hundreds of petty rules and regulations
that make daily life more and more tedious and onerous. But they also include
some very direct interference in civil liberties that strongly suggest a
movement towards a totalitarian, centrally controlled Europe, where decisions
will be taken without public debate – because they are unilaterally deemed,
“the right choice for the economy.” Such proclamations have their origins in corporate
greed, a disease which stands behind all the political insistence on obeying
the demands of 'market led' monetary forces.

In Poland,
these same corporate and government calls to 'put the economy first' are
currently being used to put the squeeze on both citizens and the natural
environment. Just witness the covertly calculated attempts by government to
by-pass vital public debate on the huge hazards presented by GMO and by
hydraulic 'fracking' for underground gas supplies. The Vice Minister of the Environment,
Bernard Blaszcyk recently stated “We will do everything to make sure that
protests are not able to stop shale gas exploration in Poland”. Such
threatening language is becoming the hallmark of institutions that appear to be
moving inexorably towards dictatorship rather than democracy. The same barely
veiled threat characterises Tusk and Sikorski's increasingly strident calls for
Poland to become deeply engaged in the Eurozone.

But by lending
support to the 'one currency for all' Euro regime we would be selling our souls
to the shadowy architects of a 'one world government'. An institution which
would, if it were allowed to manifest itself, exercise a central controlling
influence over all our lives – an influence over which we would have no redress.

Already Greece
and Italy have, at the blink of an eye, become the recipients of unelected
technocrat leaders, whose job it is to
enforce austerity measures meted out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and the European Central Bank. When prime minister Papandreou stepped forward
to offer the Greek people a referendum on whether they wished to accept the
austerity terms of the IMF – he was viciously attacked by the architects of the
Euro zone. His courageous stand lasted just three days: the idea that the
people should be asked their opinion on this momentous decision was smashed on
the weathered rocks of the Accropolis, the birthplace of European democracy.

Polish citizens
need to ask themselves just why Mr Tusk is so keen for his country to join this
unbending cabal? Just why is his government looking to the German nation to
take control of the future of Europe – and therefore the future of Poland?

There are
historical lessons that supposedly have been learnt – the hard way. No one country
or one entity (The European Commission) should be given the authority to take a
dominant role in pan- European decision making. The future freedom of our
children and grand children demands that we never allow ourselves to become
slaves to such a centralised nexus of power. And this means vigorously taking
control of our individual and collective destinies in the here and now.

European nation
states can manage their financial and social affairs without being dictated to
by the European Commission or the German federation. In the loosely knit
extended family which is Europe today, no two countries and cultures are 'the
same' - nor do they wish to be. We should celebrate this fact, because that is
the beauty of our individual yet diverse Europe. Yet the 'fiscal unity'
medicine of the Euro plan would squeeze this individuality into Orwellian
conformity, turning the richness of diversity into a sterile monoculture to be
overseen by faceless corporations and tunnel vision bureaucrats.

Right now, we
have a vital opportunity to cut short the advance of this monster - which is
looking to wrest absolute control over the democratic experiment. For Poland,
this will mean citizens activating themselves to resolutely demand a public
debate and referendum: on the country's desire for - or rejection of - becoming a co-partner to a supranational
technocracy that has no roots in the European tradition and no public mandate
to set the rules of other nations.